Was Vegeta death on Namek supposed to be sad?

[The Patrolman]

Remember that time when Vegeta died on Namek. Good Times. Was his death really played out to be sad. I mean this is the same Vegeta who killed so many people on Namek for his selfish desire. I mean the dub tried to play it out that Frieza made him evil but even then that made an inconsistency.

[TheatreStyleKai]

Funimation hammed it up a bit, but not too far off the mark. It was an effective scene though, even if you don't have much empathy for Vegeta he certainly paints a vivid portrait of how evil and insanely powerful Freeza is versus the saiyans.

[precita]

The dub made it seem sad, in the way that Vegeta only did the things he did because Freeza brought him up that way.

[DBZAOTA482]

Vegeta was pouring his heart out to Goku... of course it meant to be sad.

[Wezenheim]

To a certain degree I believe it was meant to be sad, and I pitied Vegeta. At the time the guy was a proud prince of a warrior race that was born to fight, and then he was reduced to a broken, crying mess of a man by the person who slaughtered the people he was destined to rule. The fact that he was a murdering scoundrel made the sight all the more unexpected and jarring. To top it all off, he had to die knowing that the only one who could avenge his race was low level trash who had far surpassed him.

Did he deserve what he got? Most definitely, he was a terrible person at the time. Still, to a certain degree, you can feel for the guy. If Dragon Ball ended after Freeza, I don't think that would've been a bad way to end his character arc.

[Lord Beerus]

Well... yeah. It was meant to be sad. Vegeta was literally dying, crying his eyes out and begging for Goku to defeat Freeza, so that his death wouldn't be completely meaningless.

[Hot Rod]

It is also the first moment/confirmation that Vegeta truly cared about his planet (left vague in his encounter with Dodoria and another confirmation in Movie 15 during his fight against Freeza). So given how he acted and revealed such things, to me, the entire scene played out to be sad indeed. Actually Vegeta is the responsible for two of the most saddest death's scenes/moments.

[FoolsGil]

I had a dry eye during, because Vegeta slaughtered that one village just because he could. But yes, it was supposed to be sad.

[Lionel]

Vegeta was a murderous barbarian who had no issue with killing anyone or anything with no provocation at all. About the only difference between himself and Freeza was the efficiency and tools in which they used to conquer and massacre civilisations. He wouldn't have been much better had he actually usurped Freeza's authority as dictator of the Planet Trade Organisation. He deserved to be killed.

I think the reason why Vegeta's death garners as much sympathy as it does is because of the manner in which it's executed. He's brutally tormented first after being reduced to tears at the futility of his efforts. His dreams for achieving the mythical form so he could free himself from the shadow of Freeza's oppression were thrown back in his face and in his last moments he bestowed his will to Goku because he was so desperate to have the architect of his humiliation die at the hands of a Saiyan. There was no last minute epiphany that made him appreciate all the suffering he had caused throughout his life. What he did it was purely for selfish reasons.

[Vijay]

It was depressing to be frank

Most diabolic character in anime. Best character in Z who was the driving-force of Saiyan & majority of Namek/Frieza Arc being killed-off waz....

Such a waste

Thats what I felt

His ressurection COMPLETLY removes every so-called sadness, sympathy associated durin his final moments in tears....

So, whats da big deal?

I felt it was random & yeah. Such a waste.

[Cipher]

I don't think it was supposed to be "sad." It's more of a character beat for Goku, who finally comes to terms with his brutal heritage, and receives one final bit of motivation for not only facing down Freeza, but doing so as a Saiyan.

The reader/viewer probably has some attachment to Vegeta at that point by virtue of page/screen-time spent with him and his begrudgingly helping the main characters, but I've never gotten the sense that the scene is asking for sympathy in relation to him. It's an emotional scene, and a serious one, but not really sad in the sense that Vegeta is dying. It's an ignominious end for a despicable, though enjoyable, character. But it completes an issue Goku's been grappling with since Raditz's appearance and gives him a personal beef with Freeza, who is even worse than Vegeta.

Also, whatever, whatever, Vegeta was quite popular and stuck around, but had his character ended right there, I think it would have been fine.

[Vynak]

I suppose it depends on your level of attachment to him by that point. Vegeta definitely reaped what he sowed. However by then he was my favorite character so yeah there was an emotional reaction to his death. Maybe less the actual dying part but the brutal beatdown that took place before he actually died and his realization that no matter how hard he tried he still had failed. Freeza mentally and physically broke him before actually killing him. I don't think there's really been another death where someone's been that utterly destroyed. The actual death scene just gives a greater insight into Vegeta's character than previously shown and gives him some depth.